Mighty Purdy Maple

[super3]

Several yrs ago I went to a GTG in Michigan and seen a wild looking Maple tree along the driveway to the woodlot.
It had spikes on it about an inch or more in diameter and around 3-4" long, covered in bark all over the main trunk of the tree. Weirdest F'er I've ever seen.
We got to talking about burl wood at grub time and I told Charlie if he ever ran across some purdy stuff or if they ever took that Maple out to look in the stump for some figure.
About a yr or so later he got a hold of me and said a storm had taken out the top of that Maple. They cut it down and the whole log all but 6" of the center was burl wood.
He asked what I wanted from it and I gave him some dimensions. I probably wasn't real clear in all our bs'in as when he cut them they were just a bit too narrow. He sent me some pics and my god they were purdy. He said he would cut some a bit bigger and offered to send them all, even the smaller ones. I told him I didn't have any immediate use for the small ones and he should ebay them. ( I second guess that decision every time I look at those pics) The 2nd and larger ones weren't quite as gnarly as the 1st.
Here are a few pics of the 1st ones he cut,

 

[super3]

They spent a couple of yrs stickered in between two cement blocks drying and then I got busy with other things and it took several years to getting around to what I had wanted it for.
Last month I finally got to shaping them up and finishing them.

First coat of oil,


The end product,

 

[mdavlee]

Wow. That is awesome

 

[Iron.and.bark]

Can't like enough Beautiful.

 

[Wagnerwerks]

LIKE!!!!!

 

[Rob Stafari]

Beautiful indeed! Well done.

 

[P.M.P.]

Wow what a grip. I can't help to think what a floor would look like awesome wood.

 

[jockeydeuce]

That's some beautiful wood! I hope nothing was wasted from that. It's amazing the board foot value from stuff like that for pen blanks alone among wood turners.

 

[Hammered]

Wow! That is some nice treasure.

 

[Redfin]

Very nice Mike!